HHLA profit up 15%

HHLA profit up 15%    Hamburg-based container terminal and intermodal operator Hamburger Hafen- und Lagerhaus AG (HHLA) today reported net income of 111 million euros ($164 million) for 2007, up 15 percent compared to 97 million euros in 2006.
   The company’s annual earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) rose 32 percent to 288 million euros ($424 million) with revenue up 16 percent to 1.18 billion euros ($1.74 billion).
   HHLA’s container segment posted EBIT of 248 million euros ($365 million), up 34 percent, with sales up 17 percent to 693 million euros ($1.02 billion). Volume at its container terminals in the ports of Hamburg and Odessa saw year-on-year growth of 11.7 percent at 7.2 million TEUs.
   Intermodal EBIT gained 35 percent to reach 37 million euros ($55 million), while revenue climbed 18 percent to 332 million euros ($489 million). Intermodal traffic grew 8.3 percent to 1.7 million TEUs with notable gains mentioned for Poland, the CIS countries, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.
   Logistics EBIT rose 6 percent to 13 million euros ($20 million), with earnings growth of 4 percent to 119 million euros ($175 million).
   The company, which is now 70 percent owned by the City of Hamburg following November's initial public offering, said the expected 10 percent container throughput growth will see it post healthy financial results for 2008.
   'On the basis of the trend so far,' said HHLA Chief Executive Officer Klaus-Dieter Peters, 'we expect renewed double-digit growth in revenues for the financial year 2008 and total revenues of around 1.3 billion euros. Operating result (EBIT) at group level should for the first time exceed the 300-million euro threshold.'
   HHLA has set aside about 1.5 billion euros for further growth including increasing the capacity of its container terminals in Hamburg to about 12 million TEUs by 2012, from some 6.7 million TEUs last year.